Penne and Fusilli with Aubergine, Basil and Tomato-garlic-onion sauce

I cooked my Rakshabandhan Dinner of Pasta on August 02, 2012. Sharing with you how I did it.

1. Sauteed finely chopped garlic and onion in extra virgin olive oil with salt (I keep adding salt in small amounts to my dishes as per the quantity of the ingredients added at various stages of cooking), added handful of basil leaves and pecan nuts (I should have used pine nuts but did not have any at home ).
 
2. added 5 medium sized plum tomatoes (full tin of whole plum tomatoes-450-500 gms:   the chopped tomatoes in tin are not good enough; I believe fresh tomatoes would be best. Though the tinned plum tomatoes were good enough),

3. microwave cooked diced aubergine and added to garlic and onion and tomatoes mix in the saucepan,

4. Meanwhile boiled water with salt and cooked pasta in boiling water as per my liking. For pasta, I used mix  of Penne and Fusilli. But one can use some other kind of pasta like Farfalle and Tagliatelle. Personally I find Penne too heavy (but again this is what I had in my cupboard).

 5. Strained pasta when cooked and added to the aubergine onion garlic tomato basil mix.
6. should have added some zest of lime but I forgot.
7. Added some hint of Cayenne pepper.  I added half finely chopped green chilly along with a pinch of Cayenne pepper.
8. Cooked for a while and turned off the fire.
9. Then, I shredded mozzarella  cheese and added to pasta just after turning off the fire. Mozzarella melts and becomes stretchy and string like.
10. added few drops of lemon juice just before eating. Ideally one should garnish with dry grated Parmesan cheese (I did not have any) and fresh basil leaves.

Try if you like the recipe and let me know how it turned out.